Blogs

Strengthening capacities with EFB support!

By adelina Husaj posted 12-12-2025
Through Response HUB support ERA strengthened our NGO's internal capacitates through the purchase of 2 new laptops and by enabling our staff to attend trainings in accounting ensuring transparent financial management. Many thanks to EFB for the support!

Eco Movement Ohrid

By Valentina Karagule Modeva posted 11-10-2025
Since May 2025, the Eco Movement Ohrid , led by the Association for Youth Sport Volej – Ohrid , has organized two major cleaning actions that combined hiking, environmental care, and education. Under the inspiring motto “Се движиме, се грижиме и се едуцираме!” (“We move, we care, and we educate!”), the initiative continues to engage citizens of all ages — from children to the elderly — in activities that connect physical movement with environmental awareness. One of the highlights was the Eco Mountaineering Action at Sunset , where parents and children, aged from 7 to 77, joined forces to clean mountain trails and green areas. The activity ...

YRCI Albania need partner for the call of Annual Grants, part of WBF/EU Joint Action (CN2023/449-078)

By Eliona Gremi posted 17-01-2025
Hello, we are the Youth Rights and Citizenship Initiative (YRCI ), a dynamic non-profit organization based in Elbasan, Albania. Founded in 2023, YRCI is committed to empowering youth through intercultural dialogue, educational programs, and advocacy for sustainable development. With a focus on promoting equality, creativity, and capacity-building, we aim to inspire young individuals to create positive change in their communities and beyond. We are thrilled to announce our intent to apply for the WBF/EU Joint Action Annual Grants call (CN2023/449-078) under the priorities of cultural cooperation. To strengthen our proposal and ensure impactful outcomes, we ...

Bosnian public health authorities against the public health

By Samir Lemes posted 14-11-2023
The citizens of Zenica, and especially the local communities of Tetovo and Podbrežje, have been exposed for 15 years to the continuous action of carcinogenic and mutagenic pollutants in the air, which are created as a result of the operation of the coke oven contrary to BiH regulations. A detailed study that would link the causes and consequences of this pollution to the health of the population has never been conducted, although it was planned in a series of strategic documents of the Zenica-Doboj Canton. The last excuse of the Cantonal Institute for Health and Food Safety was that they do not have the "necessary equipment and financial resources to carry out ...

TIMOK DIGITAL 2023

By Vesna Madžoski posted 31-08-2023
I am happy to inform you that our first edition of Timok Digital has been successfully realized in Zaječar last week. The Timok Digital Media Digitization Workshop was a four day workshop (August 22-25, 2023) in Zaječar, Serbia designed to bring archivists, cultural workers, and community members together to strengthen media preservation efforts in the region. Three archivists from the USA led the training, and ten participants from cultural institutions in Timok Region participated. Hands-on training in identifying, assessing, and digitizing media collections was interspersed with presentations from regional cultural workers who discussed topics in preservation ...

Let's make the Balkans green again

By Vuk Vujisić posted 09-01-2023
Thanks to the support of European Fund for the Balkans, we managed to create the basis for the social mechanism which has a goal to reforest devastated and burned areas. By the end of 2024, our goal is to plant 600,000 autochthonous species of trees, symbolically representing one citizen per tree. The final goal is to create a green barrier, which will lessen the effects of climate change. We know that the green area and forests affect climate change and the summer temperatures, and also the temperature in winter months, when we have winds and other unwanted weather conditions. Mapping In order to know which places are a priority for planting, we ...

For Peace Today, Let’s Recall Wartime Yugoslav Feminist Solidarity

By Adelina Hasani posted 27-09-2022
Societies in the Balkans have forgotten how feminists in the former Yugoslavia fought side-by-side against nationalism and war. They should stand as an example for our troubled times. Anti-war activism plays a significant role in preventing devastating wars and fostering solidarity with victims of war. Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, we are once again reminded of the importance of anti-war activism among human rights activists. Likewise, feminist activists in Yugoslavia played an important role in the social and political transformation of an entire society. It is important to remember this activism, given how it has faded from public discourse ...

UNDP Kosovo Public Pulse: Unemployment, poverty, and prices of essential supplies are the main concerns in Kosovo

By Adelina Hasani posted 07-07-2022
UNDP in Kosovo has published the biannual publication of the Public Pulse , which provide an overview of ten key indicators derived from respective opinion polls with respondents over 18 years old in Kosovo. The Public Pulse is based on an opinion poll conducted from 6 to 24 April 2022, with 1,306 respondents from all ethnic communities in Kosovo. Data and indicators from the opinion poll are disaggregated by ethnicity and gender to provide detailed information on differences in perceptions of development problems faced by the people of Kosovo. According to Public Pulse , unemployment (36.4%), poverty (21.1%), and prices of essential supplies (7.7%) are reported ...

RURAL WOMEN IN THE MUNICIPALITY OF LOZOVO, NORTH MACEDONIA

By Miloš Dimitrovski posted 13-06-2022
Lozovo Women's Organization with the help of the grant received from the EFB managed with its activities to reach more problems of women from rural areas and some of them to be solved. Through this Project, the problems that lead to discrimination of rural women were mapped from the conducted Anonymous Survey. From the Educational Interactive Workshop, rural women were educated, organized and networked. They got to know themselves, developed self-awareness, were encouraged. They realized that they have equal rights with men but do not have equal opportunities. The Debate reached the way, ie the solution for the discrimination of rural women, raised the ...

The "Balkans United for Clean Air" campaign

By Samir Lemes posted 13-05-2022
Poor air quality was identified as one of the causes of increased mortality, shorter life expectancy, reduced fertility, and higher healthcare costs in the Western Balkans. Obsolete industrial polluters, coal-fired power plants and widespread use of fossil fuels for heating made Western Balkans the region with the highest air pollution rates in Europe. Civil society organizations from the region identified the problem and joined forces to increase public awareness and accountability of institutions. The joint campaign "Balkans United for Clean Air" was initiated in January 2021 by the European Fund for the Balkans in partnership with the following organizations: ...

The activist center Grad in Smederevo marked the beginning of its work once again

By Natasa Raskovic posted 04-05-2022
In Smederevo, Serbia, a new social-activist center started its life at the beginning of February called, the City Development House (abbreviated – GRAD). Association Pro.Tok21, whose initiative for the past few years - Red Badges - has successfully animated her community around the topic of air pollution, concretized its aspirations in this city by establishing physical space for gathering active citizens, informal groups, associations, and from the town and region. At the very end of all the preparatory works, another one has held an event in the center at the end of April. On April 29, the doors of the GRAD were opened to representatives of various ...

Balkan Free Media, Where there is a will, there is a way

By Alice Taylor posted 11-04-2022
When I was asked to moderate a panel on free, independent, regional media at the Engaged Democracy Initiative conference in Belgrade, I found myself experiencing a mix of excitement and concern. I am not from the Balkans. I am British; I became a journalist in Malta and have lived in Albania for the past four years. What could I possibly hope to know about the struggles facing Balkan activists and journalists? Would I be able to relate? Would this impact my ability to elicit their experiences from them? But as I sat there, listening in awe to each speaker at the event, I began to realise that it does not matter where we are from and where we have worked. ...

PUBLIKACIJA „Kako vam možemo pomoći? – Analiza izveštavanja lokalnih medija u Vojvodini tokom pandemije virusa korona“

By Dinko Gruhonjic posted 10-01-2022
https://www.ndnv.org/2021/09/08/publikacija-kako-vam-mozemo-pomoci/ Lokalni mediji su dobri „serviseri“, ali i dalje prilično slabi „kontrolori vlasti“, zaključak je publikacije „Kako vam možemo pomoći? – Analiza izveštavanja lokalnih medija u Vojvodini tokom pandemije virusa korona“ koju su pripremili stručnjaci i saradnici Nezavisnog društva novinara Vojvodine. Analizom je obuhvaćeno ukupno dvanaest medija, od čega pet na jezicima nacionalnih manjina. Za praćenje izveštavanja su odabrani „kritični“ meseci od početka pandemije – proglašenje vanrednog stanja, parlamentarni izbori i proces masovne vakcinacije. Naglasak je bio na fokusu izveštavanja, nivou angažmana ...

Women, family, and the labor market - is care free of charge?

By Ema Stepanovic posted 04-01-2022
“No man can call himself a liberal, radical, or conservative advocate of fair play if his work depends in any way on the unpaid or underpaid labor of women at home or in the office.” Gloria Steinem The economy as we know it rests on the backs of unpaid domestic work, which is performed by a disproportionately large percentage of women. The problem that this text deals with is at the same time the issue of gender equality, economic efficiency, family well-being, depopulation tendencies, and the development of society as a whole. Women in Serbia lack systematic support to reconcile their role in the family and their activities in the labor market, ...

Recording of an interesting webinar about the Green Agenda for WB

By Samir Lemes posted 27-12-2021
Jointly sponsored by Johns Hopkins SAIS Foreign Policy Institute and Balkan Insider, this event was moderated by Edward P. Joseph of SAIS FPI and convened by Ari Mittleman, Publisher of Balkan Insider. Gorjan Jovanovski, Founder/CEO, AirCare (North Macedonia) Samir Lemes, Professor, University of Zenica; Activist on Air Pollution (Bosnia-Herzegovina) Olsi Nika, Environmental Biologist; Expert/Activist on Water Quality, Eco Albania (Albania) Mario Rajn, Mayor, Krizevci (Croatia); ‘Energy independence by 2030’; Board Member, Energy Cities Selma Sehovic, Project Manager, Climate Change and Just Energy Transition, Friedrich Ebert Stiftung Dialogue, South-East ...

Infographic “Water as a common good”

By Jovana Nešić Jovanović posted 02-12-2021
,,The infographic “Water as a common good” is the result of research by the working group for natural common goods within the zajedničko.org platform. Although the privatization of water supply in Serbia is still not a regular practice, we want to preventively inform the population about the consequences before this important public service is put on the market. Infographics are designed as a simple, easy-to-understand way to make the information we come across accessible and close to the widest audience. The first part presents the situation in Serbia and relevant developments in the legislative framework, the middle part is dedicated to well-known ...

The impact of COVID-19 on low-paid and labor intensive branches

By Jovana Nešić Jovanović posted 02-12-2021
CONCLUDING REMARKS AND RECOMMENDATIONS When it comes to the recommendations in conditions of further maturation of the economic, social and health crisis under the influence of the pandemic, to be clearer, several paradoxical cases must be highlighted during the introduction of mandatory quar antine for all citizens of the Republic of North Macedonia. First, a large proportion of employers in the textile, leather, and shoe industries were allowed to organize their work process as they saw fit, allowing workers to continue to perform their duties smoothly during the quarantine introduced by the state. So the question is: were the quarantine and the curfew ...